text: Lars Fredrik Nilson  (27 May 1840 &ndash; 14 May 1899) was a Swedish chemist, professor at Uppsala University, and later Director of the Agricultural Chemical Experiment Station at the Royal Swedish Academy of Agriculture and Forestry in Stockholm.  
  He discovered the element scandium in 1879, by separating out scandium(III) oxide, also known as scandia. In addition to his work concerning the analytic chemistry of elements and rare earths, he made substantial contributions to Swedish agriculture, including methods of fertilization and the introduction of sugar beets as a crop.